Ingredients to avoid in cosmetics

Mir is the only range free from irritants, fragrance, comedogenic (pore-clogging) substances, essential oils, soap and sulphates and the first to exclude fatty alcohols, known to produce cumulative irritation.

We offer a complete paraben-free skin care system, see below (Preservatives section).

Formulated with maximum levels of beneficial botanicals, Mir soothes, smoothes and balances without clogging pores. Generous samples of all products including Mir Argan Beauty Oil can be found in Trial Pack B - and we ship worldwide!

We avoid the ingredients shown below in Mir but this is a useful list to take with you when shopping for other cosmetics including make up, shaving products, hair and body care. 

When considering the ingredients of a product, it is of paramount importance to remember that:

Your skin is more likely to absorb chemicals and toxins when it is irritated and the functions and integrity of the acid mantle have been compromised.

For this reason, it is more important for a product to be good for the skin's health and balance than for it to be 100% natural. All products in the Mir Skin Care System, together with our optimal skincare methods, are designed to restore and protect this vital balance.

Cosmetic Ingredients to Avoid

These may not have an immediate adverse effect on your skin but may eventually cause blemishes or undermine the skin's health if used long term. The result? Cumulative irritation, increased sensitivity, the skin not functioning healthily or looking its best. Subtle differences which mean the difference between OK skin and naturally beautiful skin.

Anti ageing: irritants, time-wasters and nonsense
AHAs, BHAs, retinol etc irritate and peel the skin thereby accelerating ageing.
AHAs may be listed as: glycolic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, citric acid, glycolic acid + ammonium glycolate, alpha-hydroxyethanoic acid + ammonium alpha-hydroxyethanoate, alpha-hydroxyoctanoic acid, alpha-hydroxycaprylic acid, hydroxycaprylic acid, mixed fruit acid, tri-alpha hydroxy fruit acids, triple fruit acid, sugar cane extract, alpha hydroxy and botanical complex, L-alpha hydroxy acid, glycomer in crosslinked fatty acids alpha nutrium (three AHAs).
BHAs may be listed as: salicylic acid, salicylate, sodium salicylate and willow extract; beta hydroxybutanoic acid, tropic acid, trethocanic acid.

Collagen and pentapeptides - severe irritants to the intelligence. I would question the integrity of any company making claims about products containing them.  Collagen applied to the skin does not have any effect on your own. And as for all the ridiculous unfounded claims made about pentapeptides,  as various medical and scientific experts have confirmed: there is no evidence whatsoever that they are of benefit and some may even be toxic.  Keep your skin naturally supple with my Argan Beauty Oil or Skin Silk Lotion and see my anti ageing section for for holistic, realistic advice.

Comedogenic (pore-clogging) substances
Almond, apricot kernel, avocado, cocoa butter, castor, coconut, corn, linseed, peanut, olive, sesame, sunflower. Also avoid mineral oil, paraffinum liquidum, petrolatum as these are from non-sustainable resources. If you use coconut oil or other comedogenic substances/products on your hair, they can come into contact with your face and cause problems.


If a product is labelled non-comedogenic all that means is that it was tested on the backs of volunteers, not on pimple-prone faces. It may still contain comedogenic ingredients. Many of the natural and organic ranges are based on comedogenic vegetable oils such as avocado, sunflower, peanut etc. Some of the natural oils on our list may be fine when used in lip and body balms, body lotions etc. But if you develop spots on your body check the ingredients of your body lotion. If you develop spots around your lips, your lip balm may be smearing on your pillow at night and getting onto your skin use our Argan Beauty Oil as a lip balm instead. Spots on hairline, jaw line, neck and shoulders? Check your hair care products. Spots on shoulders and/or back: wash your skin after rinsing off hair conditioner.

Fragrance free products?  Read the labels
These usually contain irritating essential oils, see below. The problem is that it’s extremely difficult to formulate products which are entirely free from natural or chemical fragrance.  Cosmetic ingredients which smell fine individually can become malodorous in combination, so essential oils are handy for masking unpleasant whiffs and still enable the manufacturer to label the product as fragrance free.

Essential oils
Avoid on face, fine on body in moderation. Lavender and tea tree are useful for spot-treating.

They may sound natural to you but your facial skin perceives them as complex chemical compounds. Approximately 75% of our customers have highly sensitive skin and many have told us that they didn't suffer from sensitivity or blemishes before they used products containing essential oils on their faces. The blemishes are usually a result of the high oil content of these products. Again, just because they are naturally derived does NOT mean they are good for your face. Some of my customers are professional aromatherapists who use Mir precisely because it does not contain essential oils.

Alcohols and Fatty Alcohols
Fatty alcohols: Most people with sensitive skin know they must avoid alcohol in products but there is also a class of cosmetic ingredients known as fatty alcohols which can cause cumulative irritation. Cetyl and cetearyl alcohol are examples - pick up any jar of organic or non-organic skin care and you will find them listed. They are moisturising and therefore rarely perceived as irritants. We specialise in sensitive skin products and Mir is the only range developed by a cosmetic scientist with sensitive skin, which is why we exclude them in their entirety. Fine in hair products.
Alcohol: Amazingly, alcohol is often used as a preservative in natural and organic "sensitive" skin ranges - in order to be effective it needs to be used at around 20%! Men with sensitive skin: be very cautious with after shave products.


Soaps and Sulphates disrupt the skin's natural balance leading to dryness and blemishes use Cleansing Gel and Gentle Body Wash instead:


Soaps: Avoid on face (and on body if you have skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis). The alkaline pH of soap can make it irritating and drying. However wonderfully natural, gentle and moisturising the ingredients may sound, however much glycerine has been left in -  it is the manufacturing process that renders soap too alkaline for sensitive skin - whether handmade or mass produced. 

Sulphates (or sulfates): E.g. ammonium lauryl sulphate, ammonium laureth sulphate, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium laureth sulphate are harsh surfactants (surface active agents, also known as detergents) and are commonly found even in the most exclusive and organic ranges. It doesn't matter whether a substance is naturally derived, the point is that these  can irritate and dry your skin and encourage blemishes. Some surfactants are very mild and can even help to calm and soothe the skin. We use a combination of these very mild surfactants in our cleansing products.

General
Alcohol, alcohol SD. Benzoyl peroxide (unless in OTC or prescription product), butyl stearate, butylene glycol, cetearyl alcohol, cetostearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, cetyl stearyl alcohol (fatty alcohols which can cause cumulative irritation when used on the face). Citrus oils, extracts and juices. Cinnamon, clove oil. Esostearyl alcohol. Essential oils. Eucalyptus oil. Fragrance (aka parfum). Isocetyl stearate. Isopropyls including: isopropyl isostearate, isopropyl lineate, isopropyl myristate, isopropyl neopententanate, isopropyl palmitate. Lanolin and lanolin derivatives. Laureth 4, lauryl alcohol. Myristyls including: myristyl ether propionate, myristyl lactate, myristyl myristate. Octyl palmitate, octyl stearate. Oleic acid. PABA, paraffin, peppermint, phenol, phosphoric acid. Propylene glycol. Witch hazel (natural but 15 to 70% alcohol).

Organic hype - not an "ingredient" as such but something to watch out for ...
I am absolutely in favour of products being as natural as possible but it is more important for a product to be good for the skin than it is for it to be completely natural. Organic ranges often contain:

Organic sugar is just as bad as the ordinary stuff, as are organic cakes, chocolates, biscuits etc.  Similarly, organic cosmetics may still contain irritants that are indeed organic - but no less irritating than their non-organic counterparts. Think beyond the hype.  Here's an example - the tan enhancing ingredient DHA or dihydroxyacetone is present in totally natural organic self-tanners which usually describe it as being naturally derived - it is still irritating (and it has to be present in self-tanning products for them to work).

Just because a product - whether food or cosmetic - is organic doesn't automatically make it good for you.  "Organic" on the label seems to prevent us turning the product over and looking at the ingredients list.

In an effort to avoid preservatives (which are necessary in healthy, water-based products) organic skin care tends to be oil-based and may ultimately cause blemishes in those prone to them, or may contain irritants such as alcohol used as preservatives. As mentioned above, the skin is more likely to absorb toxins when it is irritated and when the functions and integrity of the acid mantle have been compromised.

Unnecessary additives:

There is absolutely no need for colours, dyes and pearlisers so we avoid them.  We could add something to our cleansers to make them clear but again it's unnecessary.

 

A word about preservatives, parabens etc


Mir offers a complete paraben-free skin care product range:

Skin Refresher - a cleansing water which is also a toner and eye makeup remover

Liquid Silk Gentle Foaming Wash - for face and body

Skin Silk - moisturiser and eye cream

Argan Beauty Oil - for everything!

Pure Rhassoul Mask

 

By law all cosmetics containing water must be properly preserved or they are simply not safe to use.  If a product does not contain water it will be oil-based and not healthy for facial use as it will clog pores. (That's why many people find organic products give them spots.)

Preservatives not only stop products "going off" but help to prevent contamination through usage. Even if you wash your hands fifteen times, there will still be micro-organisms on your fingers which could find their way into products and breed there. This could result in product spoilage and much worse - serious infections of skin, eyes etc. 

Other paraben-free products may not be as virtuous as they sound and invariably contain some of the irritants and pore-cloggers on our banned list. Mir is the only range that is free from fragrance, essential oils, irritants, fatty and pore-cloggers and we are the first and only company to exclude fatty alcohols. We will be paraben free by mid 2010 and use exceptionally low levels of preservatives as you can see from our ingredients lists.

Natural preservatives:


So "preservative-free" and/or "totally natural" and "naturally preserved" cosmetics sound good but they could clog your pores or contain unhealthy levels of micro-organisms which you really do not want anywhere near your skin.

Become ingredients aware and don't be fooled by this marketing ploy. As an example, one company in particular claims its products are preservative-free but uses alcohol in all of them as a preservative.  It needs to be used at 20% to be effective, that's a huge amount of a very irritating substance, which means they don't really care about your skin at all. It would be more beneficial to use low percentages of effective preservatives and exclude the alcohol.
 
When a product is labelled "preservative free" or "organic" hardly anyone bothers to look at the ingredients label on the back and, even if they did, most of these products have so many ingredients it would take all day to check them. Some of the specialist organic and natural shops throw their hands up in horror at the slightest hint of safe preservatives, yet they're quite happy to sell products containing sulphates, alcohol, lanolin, heavy oils, fatty alcohols and essential oils - unhealthy pore cloggers and irritants.

The long and short of it is that products which are not properly preserved are not safe. 
Check labels and ensure your products were properly manufactured in a laboratory, don't buy second hand cosmetics or "kitchen cosmetics" - you could be getting much more than you bargained for. Just because a products smells OK doesn't mean it isn't teeming with wildlife!

Caring for your skin - Skin Facts
Benefiting from Mir skin care
Mir
ingredients
Ingredients
to avoid in cosmetics
Rosacea and hypersensitivity
Problematic
skin
Anti ageing
and sun care
Frequently
asked questions